It is no accident that some of the most popular holiday songs were penned during the Great Depression and World War II. White Christmas, Winter Wonderland and I'll Be Home for Christmas are just three examples dating to 1940, 1934 and 1943 respectively. I doubt any of these songs will be as long lasting as the traditional carols, but they certainly speak to sacred memories of family and home. Of course the vintage and durability of these songs have an important economic lesson for our times.

The holiday seasons remind us in part how we live a life. Individuals live with some desire towards obtaining happiness, which is termed in economic jargon as ‘utility maximizing behavior’. This is a complex process, of course, depending upon some level of physical well-being, the happiness of others, of loving and being loved. Beyond that we also derive happiness in diverse things, from running marathons to stamp collecting, to finding success in our occupations. However, finding happiness in hobbies and occupations is a uniquely first-world luxury. For most of recorded history, humans sought happiness in the simple act of surviving and raising a family. The abundance of our times allows even very poor Americans to live in material comfort and technological diversion far beyond the dreams of a half century ago. This allows us to absorb ourselves in first-world problems.

Still, for most of us, the greatest joys, triumphs and lasting happiness come from more simple matters. I believe that is why I'll be Home for Christmas remains popular after almost 70 years. Perhaps the trying times of depression and war unlocked creative energies focusing on the simple, lasting joys of life. Perhaps the trials of those years meant that any poignant tune would be well remembered. Either way, it meant that the recollections of hard times would be softened by a closer memory of the things that matter to us most.

My brief thesis is then that as we face tough times we become closer to the essential parts of what it means to be alive. Further this illuminates better who we really are as economic beings. As economic research has long concluded, we don't live simply to accumulate wealth or gain status in society, nor do we labor exclusively to consume the goods and services others produce. These are all good things of course, but it is clear these do not primarily animates us as living men and women, especially as we mature in outlook.

In this holiday season we continue to face real tests. Our economy is weak and though few really want for basics, the dreams of many are on hold. We are a nation at war in distant places, and we grieve over violence at home. But for the wise among us, such difficulties signal a chance to ponder a bit more about the things that really make us happy, like the happiness of others, of loving and being loved and how to maximize them all.

Michael J. Hicks, PhD, is the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and the George and Frances Ball distinguished professor of economics in the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. Hicks earned doctoral and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Virginia Military Institute. He has authored two books and more than 60 scholarly works focusing on state and local public policy, including tax and expenditure policy and the impact of Wal-Mart on local economies.

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